


Pie and Apologies

by Whuffie



Category: Dragon Age: Origins
Genre: Drabble, Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2013-12-22
Updated: 2013-12-22
Packaged: 2018-01-05 11:23:37
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,417
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1093318
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Whuffie/pseuds/Whuffie
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>A fluffy drabble for Cullen and Audrie Amell when he was first assigned to watch over her in the tower.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Pie and Apologies

**Author's Note:**

> This was part of a writing challenge which I never finished due to personal reasons. The challenge is to take a random sentence from any book and use that as the first line of your story.

Bitterleaf by Lisa Greagory pg 214

**He stuck the last forkful of cherry pie in his mouth.** Chewing it, Cullen knew it wouldn’t be something he’d get to enjoy very often, and Audrie had made it as well as any of the brothers or sisters while he was in training at the Chantry. He’d always preferred salty treats like spiced nuts, but the pie had been an apology for the fish incident. She was a good cook, and it reminded him of home, before he left to join the Order. The company was proving to make the situation even better, and he regarded Audrie as she sat across the table from him, a pleased expression plastered from one side of her face to the other. “I’ve never had my own templar before!” she almost squealed, making him and several other people startle. The other mages and templars at the table went back to their meals, all used to the young woman’s outbursts. Quickly biting down on her lower lip, she muttered, “oops.” She pulled her neck down inside her robes like the turtles she’d seen in books or barely remembered from before she moved to the Circle.

At first, Cullen worried she’d be afraid of him, which was something he dreaded. The Maker had a reason for all things, and he was certain that included mages. The moment Greagoir pointed her out, hunched over a desk and scribbling down notes in a classroom, the young templar had hoped the two of them would be friends. If not that, at least acquaintances rather than enemies. It was a relief she was curious and happy rather than resentful or terrified. He thought there would have been someone watching her before then, and wondered if she simply hadn’t been aware of it. “Not … um… anyone? You didn’t have someone assigned to you before me?”

“No. There’s always been templars all over, but you’re the first one who was mine. I mean… well you know what I mean.” She giggled and rolled her eyes at herself, then plowed ahead. “Do we get to eat together and stuff? Some of the templars do.” She supposed it depended on how much they either liked their charges or if a mage needed closer watching. There were a few paranoid ones who were constantly vigilant, or magi like Anders who would figure out another way to escape once he was dragged back. She’d heard a nasty rumor that Roarke might be opted to watch him, and she hoped that wasn’t true. Nobody deserved him, and Greagior normally had Roarke guarding doors rather than people. “Not that you have to watch me or anything, I just thought if you did you might want too, until you … Well, unless you have other templar friends?”

His best friend had been transferred with him as a roommate, but the idea of meals held much more appeal when she would be the person speaking with him. For all her outbursts, she was very talented and kind. “I-I hope so,” Cullen tried to curb his stammer, but his tongue defied him around girls, tying itself into knots. All the words were in his head, but they never came out correctly. “I also hope that … that we can be friends?” Surely if that was the case, she’d want to stay at the Tower, and it would keep him from having to track her down. He’d never been on an Apostate hunt, and he wasn’t looking forward to his first. If the Maker was kind, he might never have to, because of where he’d been placed. His strong willpower had won over his ability to ride horses, landing him at the Circle rather than as one of the hunters who spent most of their time traveling. While that idea had appealed to him because of how the templars had once protected the common people from maleficar, demons, abominations, cultists and nearly everything but darkspawn, part of him was relieved he’d been stationed at the safety of the tower. He was no coward, but he wanted to do good helping mages and templars work together toward a common goal of unity rather than opposing each other. He could do that best in Kinloch Hold.

“I’d like to be your friend,” she affirmed somberly with a nod. “You’ll have other things to do around the tower, too, I expect. There’s always some templars watching over certain classes, so I’m sure we won’t be together all the time.” She turned a light pink and cast a shy glance over the last bite of her own pie, admiring his face. Chomping on the sweet crust and cherry, she tried to avoid biting her own tongue. Most of the templars around the tower were stern old men, and not anything like Cullen. “I still like the idea of being friends.” Studies weren’t going to be half as boring as they usually were with him around, even if he was on a strictly look and not touch basis.

“Me too.” According to the debriefing he’d gotten from the Knight-Commander, Audrie was about his age. She’d been living in the Circle for almost the same length of time he’d been in Templar training. Neither of them had seen much of the world, although what was voluntary for him was mandatory for her. After speaking, he humbly thanked the Maker that if they were going to spend the rest of their lives with him overseeing her studies and keeping her safe, that he’d been granted an attractive, intelligent mage who was his peer.

“You … you um… don’t have any more free time after lunch.” He had a good head for recalling things he saw or read like they were a perfect replica in his mind. Seeing her schedule once as shown to him by Greagoir and First Enchanter Irving had been enough for him to memorize it instantly. He didn’t need to take the parchment out of his belt and consult it. “So, I’ll – I’ll have to take you to your lessons as soon as you’re finished with your meal.” He tried to sound authoritative because he was the templar and she a mage. The Chantry had put them in charge of watching the mages, but he didn’t want to be a bully with her. The pit of his stomach warmed, kicking pleasantly when she smiled at him. He never wanted her to stop, and he found himself melting into a returned grin.

“Of course.” She was a little too eager, but it was the only interesting to happen to her in years. Maker, he was young, gorgeous, not half as stodgy as Greagior, and didn’t have that sick, frightening darkness inside of him which Roarke did. Cullen didn’t have anything to worry about with her. She was Irving’s prize pupil, and she wanted to get out of the Tower someday. It wouldn’t be like Anders. She wouldn’t run, but would try to do it legally with a job of some sort. Those positions were rare, and usually filled by Tranquil, but there were occasionally calls for a mage, particularly a healer. Some Senior Enchanters were able to come and go as they pleased, like that botonist gardener Audrie heard about once in awhile. If she was lucky, she and Cullen might be such good friends they could do things together. He could protect her from whatever was out there while she did her job, and the idea made her light up with delight. “I’m glad you got assigned to me.”

She hadn’t teased him about his stutter, and he hoped that perhaps, one day, they might be as close of friends as he and Kenley. As a mage, they couldn’t be more than that, because the Chantry forbade it. She was so pretty, and the way she looked at him made him feel like the sun rose and set just for him. It wasn’t something he ever wanted to cloud because she was scared of him. He’d never do anything to break that trust, and helped her collect the dishes so they could go to their next destination. “You don’t want to be late.” Instead of trying to make it an order, he made it a more natural, conversational coax. He was rewarded with another dazzling shy smile and a chance to watch her walk in front of him. Robes hid nearly anything interesting, but there wasn’t any sin in merely appreciating someone beautiful who the Maker created.

Was there?


End file.
